Old Acrylic Painting

I was going back through some of my older paintings earlier and found an acrylic painting of this little puppy.  I don't remember when it was done although I know it was for practice with acrylic paints.  As I look at it here, the yellow background looks almost neon but it's not that bright in real life!

This painting was done on a sheet of canvas - one of those that comes in a pad and can be used for just about any medium.  I think the next painting will be on a gessoed hardboard panel or on a stretched canvas.  It will probably be the hardboard panel as I've never cared much for the "give" of even a tightly stretched canvas.

Anyway, I have done a few paintings in acrylic and would like to do more of them.  The temperature here today has plummeted with rain and wind to make it feel even colder so staying in to do more practicing sounds really good to me!

New Pastel - Yorkie Puppy

"Yorkie Puppy"
Pastel on ColourFix
copyright
Jan Gibson

This is a painting I worked on this weekend. It's pastel on ColourFix, a sanded paper that I'm not real fond of using although I do prefer sanded supports over plain pastel paper. I think ColourFix would be just fine for land or sea scapes but it's really difficult to get good detail on subjects that need it. Also, it was next to impossible to get the little wispy bits of fur even with a very sharp pastel pencil. I think that could be pretty much solved by almost filling the tooth before adding the "wispies" but then it seems the pastel pencil just digs a trough instead of adding color. And that could solved by using a soft pastel on top but I don't own any and am hesitant to buy any as I don't particularly enjoy soft pastels. The pencils are great because my hands stay fairly clean and the dust is minimal. Regular soft pastels are too messy for my taste.

So, that's why I prefer velour or PastelBord for animal portraits - they just look softer and more realistic.

As I've said before, I like experimenting with the different media and materials and am definitely finding my favorites!

Just Chillin'

Just Chillin"
pastel on black card stock
copyright
Jan Gibson

I haven't been doing much in the way of my own art recently but had to paint this little one. I was in the pet store where I buy dog food and a couple came in with two Papillons and this little 10-week old Chihuahua puppy. All of the dogs were soooo cute that I just wanted to eat them up! I got permission to photograph all the dogs and plan to paint each of them eventually.

This puppy really got to me though, and even being busier than a one-armed paper hanger, I did this quick painting. I wish I'd done it on something other than black stock though. I just couldn't cover the black paper well enough to suit me so I may re-paint this at another time.

The puppy's name is Tia and she was dressed in a tiny pink hoodie and held close to her owner for warmth. I had to take some artistic license as a hand covered most of her body in the photo so I wrapped her in a blanket instead of the little shirt she was actually wearing.

Although I really love all kinds of animals, especially dogs, I'm not usually so taken with one. This little girl was certainly the exception! Hope you all enjoy her too.

Kelpie Puppy

"Kelpie Puppy"
by
Jan Gibson

This is a colored pencil painting of a little Kelpie pup from a photo reference posted for a WDE (Weekend Drawing Event) at Wet Canvas. This little fellow tugged at my heartstrings and I decided to use the photo for practice with colored pencil on drafting film.

I guess it came out fairly well for not being able to get many layers on film. I think the hardest part - and the one just beyond my expertise with cp - was the abrupt change of direction of the puppy's fur. It would be going in one direction then suddenly change and go another direction.

Another learning curve was getting the lighter fur to appear to lie over the darker fur. It's almost impossible to put a lighter color over a darker color especially with the drafting film as a support. I couldn't erase nor would Scotch tape lift enough color to allow me to rework. So, it was a planning issue. I had tried to put my lights in first but would invariably miss them later and work over them with a darker pencil! The white cp just doesn't seem to show up well on this drafting film even with a darker paper under it.

This is some film that was given to me and is unlike the Duralar that I purchased some time ago. This is a brand called Chartpak and it's adhesive on one side with a peel-off printed backing sheet. The printing is a little distracting even though it blends in somewhat with the film. I usually do my sketch on this side and it will show through to the other (working) side. This keeps me from having to erase sketch lines as I work.

It works as well as the Duralar but can only be used on one side. It's also tricky to adhere it to your colored support paper as air bubbles are often left behind. It's great for practice though & I'm grateful to have it. The Duralar is very expensive and since I'm not that proficient with cp's, having the Chartpak for practice is very nice indeed.

Oh, the paper under the drafting film is Mi Tientes and I left the honey-comb side up for the added texture and because I had hoped it would deter air bubbles. It must have worked as I was fortunate not to get any.

It seems that every medium has it's assets and disadvantages. I know I don't have the skill level for great cp work nor the patience for learning it. There are subjects that work for me in cp but I truly think that either watercolor or pastel pencils would have been a better choice for this little fella. Nonetheless, I'm fairly pleased as it is recognizable if not a masterpiece!